Update!!!! (lots of stuff)

Welllllll….. I don’t even know where to start!
Yes I know I’ve been slacking alot! But I have over 2 weeks of christmas vacance and had a blast the whole way through it. Now that I’m back to my old school day grime, I guess I have no excuse but you update you guys.

I won’t be able to tell everything I did In practically the whole month because I could probably go on for ages. I’ll talk about my most important memories and adventures!
Lets go all the way back to Dec. 4th.

On December 4th I had went to one of my best friends birthday parties, Dani. This was the first time I stayed the night at someones house. The night was filled with fun and laughter. Also got to have my first fire outside in Belgium. Man I miss the whitewater bonfires chez moi. (at my house in Canada.. Its shorter to say chez moi 😉 but I had to explain sooo I don’t know anymore.) We got to have a feast of tacos all you can eat and the family spoke fluent english so it was so nice on the translation part of the brain.

Was an extremely great time.

The Party Crew!!!

Now back to Dec. 12
One day I will definitely never forget. A few of my friends and I did some researching for free things to do and stumbled upon something crazy! Would’ve paid to explore this place. But hey it was free! Bring along a couple sandwiches from home and water for the way and we were good to go. Online we had found an abandoned fortress. Which says is now just a place for graffiti artists to go. Which I must say, some of these ‘artworks’ i don’t even know how to say it were super neat and cool! This Fortress was a base built by the Dutch, used by Belgians for both world wars, was a hospital for the United States, was and orphanage at one time, and also a prison during both wars as well. It was a little frightening of a place to think that all this has happened. But man it was so worth it.

Some of these buildings had 4 floors and we even found where the prison cells were and where they showered. We thought to have found where guards and higher ranks would shower too because it seemed to have been better piping rather then seeping from walls. There was probably well over 15 buildings. When I say buildings I don’t mean just houses. These buildings would probably have over 50 rooms on one floor and every floor varied in layout.

This was infront of the main buildings. There were others behind those ones and to the right

Inside one of the main buildings. I believe this was second or third floor is you consider the basement
One of many rooms filled with neat graffiti.
Graffiti
My two friends looking like they’re about to drop the next hot mix-tape.
If you look above the guy and the bird. Apprently, after you stand at attention, then walk into a wall, you get to eat. These Symbols varied from waking up to mid day activities.. I belive these symbols were here to keep some happiness in the dorms of the soldiers. These paintings on the wall was no graffiti and were hand panted. Some of them were missing because of they were close to the windows which have no actual windows in them.
Football. Very very vey popular in Europe and of course Belgium
My two friends in pure awe and loss of word. We spent the whole day here. Probably a good 6 hours just exploring and still want to go back.
More tunnelsTall huge hallways.
We found a tunnel that had barbed wire in it that kept pr
Tight Squeeze. We looked like hobos on the bus ride home all dirty. But hey it’s all in the name of adventure.
Barred gates in a hallway.
What seemed to be prison showers. You can see the circle tiles where to stand and this was just after the barred gates.
Many stairs going every where. Easy to get lost there but luckily we didn’t!
One of many awesome graffitis on the walls
Many tunnels and caverns. We found a basement at one point that had no windows and multiple rooms. We had to walk across a door that looked to be kicked down just to cross the bit of water that was in the basement. Once you turned off all lights and were silent, it was true intensity. Never seen such darkness if that makes sense. There was no eye adjustment. Just pure darkness. You could see the glowing of my watch through my pants. You could hear your heart beat and any movement you or your friends made. Never until then have I heard such silence and been in such darkness. Was absolutely amazing.A view from the top of one of the main huge buildings. Kind of like the court yard of the place.One of many night photos I took. I wanted to see if I would see a ghost or not. But let me tell you once it got a little dark outside we were gone!

Evading through the woods passing creepy buildings on either side of us.

Dec 20th
First time visiting the town of Anvers (french name) Antwerpen (Dutch name) Yes towns have different names in french and dutch and I do not understand why. Like my town in french is Jodoigne but in dutch it is Geldenaken….. Like what? Not even close!! Antwerpen is the capital of diamonds and every street you walk down is covered in jewelry stores. Wayyyyyy too expensive for me to even walk into! Also its the only place that has 3 levels of train station. Yes each level has at least 6-10 train stops. Which is absolutely crazy!! It’s quite the long walk but is a crazy busy city. Easy to get lost in! Thank you for saving our lives google maps.

This is the crazy huge gare they have in Antwerpen. Also I didn’t take that photo for the giant half naked lady. She just happened to be there.Dancing our way through Antwerp. Like always.
On the other side of the beautiful river they have in Antwerp. They also have a huge harbour which is very nice.
How do we get across the river you ask? Well obviously by a huge underwater tunnel.
Panorama building just beside the harbour. Unfortunately that building was closed.It’s just me. Being artsy. So Artsy. Like always.

Dec. 24th
Twas’ the night before christmas….
Christmas with my host family was absolutely amazing and it was a ton of fun. Great dinner, great laughs, awesome memories that I’ll never forget. I thought I was gonna be a little more sad for Christmas but really it was not even half as bad as I expected. At one point we literally had a dance party and not one person wasn’t dancing. Yes I have videos but unfortunately I cannot upload them because this website wont let me and Its too large for Facebook. Also Christmas is mainly carried out the night before. The morning after we rested after being up until 4am.
Pre-dinner snacks!
The lovely family! Gotta love turkey dinner!!
La pere noel was very gentil with moi this annee!

Dec. 31st
This year I spent the night at a friends house. Her host Family is probably the funniest most down to earth people in the world. Can’t even forget about the little son who just adored me. He didn’t want me to leave his house. We played card games all night which was really fun and we almost missed new years. Somebody had mention what time it was and it was literally 30 seconds to midnight! After midnight we stayed up even longer playing cards and joking the night away. Also I must say I kinda kicked ass at the game Ticket To Ride Europe. See mom, you can win when you dont kick Mike and I’s ass all the time!
Here is a picture of one of my bestfriends Adrianna From Canada.

Also another super exciting thing that has happened in the last week is that I have changed host families. I live in the same town but now I have to walk a little farther to go anywhere but thats okay! I don’t have a photo of me and the family yet but I will soon! The family is super encouraging and is always asking about Canada. So far it’s going great here. Just have to make sure not to get lost in their house. Its quite large! I have 2 brothers and a little sister. I’ll have a photo soon I swear! Maybe aha 😛

Sadly though I am now an Oldie…. Which means the other exchange students who were here has now left and new students are coming in. All the Aussies are gone. My commonwealth friends!! I’m coming up to my half way point real soon! Also lots of those oldies who left were friends of a life time and was a rough time to say goodbye to people at the airport.
Crazy New Years family!All the exchange student who came to say goodbye to everyone

Oldies I’m going to miss yous dearly and you guys have truly lead us newies in the right direction. I’m am more than proud to have met and befriended you guys. Friends and memories for life. It is truly crazy and a spectacle on its own the connection you have with some who you haven’t known for very long. I will see all of you guys again for sure don’t even worry. I wouldn’t mind going to Australia

I know I say this every time about updating more often but hey it was vacation give me a break!! Now that I’m back to the ol’ grime it should be good!

Merry Christmas
Joyeux Noël
Happy New Year
Bonne Année

See ya guys!

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4 thoughts on “Update!!!! (lots of stuff)”

You are so lucky. I would of loved to have been with you when you went through the buildings. I understand why you don’t post all the time. YOU ARE TO BUSY. Lol. That’s great. Make mor memories and and post when you can. Waiting for your next post when you have time . Xoxo enjoy every moment